For today's Portfolio Showcase, I wanted to highlight some work I did a few years ago that's close to my heart. I'm a big baseball fan, and my roots are deep. I'm a third generation Yankees fan (no apologies, folks, I'm from New York), and back in 2002, I was looking to submit some work to a Yankees-related trade magazine. I did a number of samples, both to get myself back into the illustration game after ten years of doing comics exclusively, and with the greater goal of getting work.
The first piece is a favorite because Lou Gehrig is a personal hero of mine, and has been since I read a biography of him as a young boy. By all accounts, he was a good person, and having to battle a tragic disease which sapped him of his legendary vitality, strength, and athleticism makes his story all the more compelling. His disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis was so devastating that it ended his career prematurely, and his life even more prematurely. Never did a man go out in as dignified manner as Gehrig though, with his famous speech at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939. Here's my tribute to Lou Gehrig:
Mickey Mantle was also a hero to many, including my Dad, who has a roomful of memorabilia devoted to The Mick. When trying to decide who my second subject for an illustration would be, there really was no doubt. I'd have to do one of Mickey, both for his iconic swing, as it makes for such a dynamic study, as well as for the fact that I knew my Dad would love to have a copy of the piece for his office wall. This is the illustration:
If you like these, and want to see more similar work, you can go to my website, www.richfaber.com and click on the "Baseball Illustrations" button (or you can just click the previous link here).
Thanks for taking the time to look, and I hope you have a nice weekend. I'll be back next week with more art and news.
Best,
Rich
1 comment:
What photo did you use to copy the image of gehrig into your art?
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